


The Aether

by Bob_the_bastard



Category: Marsfall (Podcast)
Genre: And Probably A Hug, Apologies, Cannon compliant, Confusion, Gen, Hurt, Hurt Charles "Chip" Heddleston, I binged this podcast and I might be slightly obsessed, I'm so mad I didn't mention Luna in this, Platonic Relationships, Seizures, The Aether, everyones confused, ish, they all need a break
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:00:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29298522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bob_the_bastard/pseuds/Bob_the_bastard
Summary: Set during Chip's seizure at the start of episode 9.Maybe episode 14 wasn't ANDI and Chip's first time to the Aether, just the first time they remember. I mean hey, Chip was pretty delirious at the start of season 2 and ANDI's memory was pretty unreliable so...
Relationships: ANDI & Charles "Chip" Heddleston, Ani (Brother) Mateo Alvirez & Charles “Chip” Heddleston
Kudos: 1





	The Aether

**Author's Note:**

> Utterly thrilled this gave me the excuse to read through the transcripts and,,, holy crap I'm in love with the goddamn script! The amount of tidbits in there I didn't notice when listening to it was--- oh my gosh, so so good.
> 
> This is partly based on the quote in the script, "a hollow feeling as if Chip has lost a part of himself." after Chip has the seizure in episode 9.

“Do you trust me?”

Mateo looked up at Grigory from where he sat, “you’ve given me no reason not to.” 

“Good,” He looked down at where Chip lay between them, “he should be alright.”

Mateo breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you, friend.”

“I said should, I am not a specialised surgeon. He is lucky I have an understanding of enhancements.” He hesitated for a moment, “and that Nos was there to help.”

“I’m sure he is. Thank you nonetheless, I don’t know what I’d do if you hadn’t have saved him.” 

Grigory offered Mateo a curt nod before leaving the room. Mateo had to admit, he was sad to see him go. seeing Chip so… still was disconcerting to say the least, with Grigory there, he’d had something to distract himself with.

He shuddered as he recalled how close they’d been to losing him.

Mateo squeezed Chip’s hand, “hang in there, buddy.” His voice grew quieter, “We might be the only ones left.”

***

Chip didn’t think he’d opened his eyes, or shut them for that matter. Just been brought to a sudden awareness of his surroundings- though he wasn’t sure surroundings was the right word. Are they really your surroundings if there’s nothing there?

Where was he?

A void? 

No. A void had nothing, there was… something around him.

He didn’t feel present enough to shout, or blink. Was he even breathing? Nothing hurt anymore.

He didn’t want to be alone. 

“I miss you ANDI.” Had he said that aloud? He didn’t think he’d moved his mouth, but he wasn’t sure.

“Chip?” He was pretty sure he’d imagined that. The thought of ANDI’s voice was almost sharp over the pure silence of this weird nowhere-place he’d ended up in.

God, he was confused.

“Chip? Was that you?” 

Okay, slightly less sure it was his imagination now. His voice was tentative, “ANDI?” this time he was certain he’d actually spoken.

“Chip, I can hear you.” ANDI’s voice was almost hopeful. Well, Chip thought he sounded hopeful, he’d spent a lot of time taking to ANDI and liked to think he’d gotten better at understanding the AI.

“ANDI,” Chip relished in saying his name, unfiltered relief at hearing his best friend’s voice had grounded him. “you’re here, you’re actually here.” He was realising how disconcerting it was to panic without breathing. “Where- where is here?”

“I don’t know Chip.”

***

“Patient is having a seizure.” Nos and Grigory had fallen back into speaking Russian, no longer needing to translate himself for his unexpected guests was a relief, and having Nos speak as normal lent a small sense of normality to an otherwise incredibly abnormal situation.

“I am aware.” Grigory fought to keep back his frustration. He’d been the one to instruct Nos to alert him in emergency after all, He didn’t really have a reason for getting angry at the AI for stating the obvious.

“inject him with the anticonvulsant.” Chip shook violently, back jolting harshly against the ground. Grigory looked down at him, eyebrows creased in worry, “Open the bed and put up the soft barriers.”

Grigory lifted Chip onto the cot, struggling to keep his grip as the scrawny man seized in his arms. Diagnostika injected the drug as Chip continued to jolt Violently against the bed.

***

“Andi, I don’t understand… I don’t- I don’t feel right.”

“I know Chip, I’m going to find you.”

“But… you’re already here?”

“No, I’m not, not physically anyway. But I will find you buddy, I promise.” Andi was growing slightly concerned at how strenuous the hold on his bond with Chip was becoming.

“Andi I’m tired.”

“Hold on, Chip…” 

Their connection snapped out like a rubber band, and just like that, Andi was left alone again in suffocating silence.

***

When Chip woke up the first thing he noticed was the lulling sound of the jungle and the soft pinging of rain against plastic. The second thing was the pain. 

His eyes snapped open as he gasped in pain. Everything hurt, a bone-deep ache clutching at his entire body. His back felt like it had been split open and he struggled to ignore how his eyes had flooded at the realisation of just how much he hurt.

“Be careful, Chip.”

Mateo was here, that was one positive, Chip thought. He struggled for a moment, trying to remember where they were, what had happened.

Was he sleeping? He thought he had been dreaming, but he supposed he could just as easily have been remembering something from back at Sequoia.

“What happened?” Chip said.

Mateo looked at him, features soft with concern, “You had a seizure.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was very self indulgent, I had a lot of fun writing it actually. If you got this far, I really hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
